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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Synopsis

Based on the Worldwide Best Seller

Swedish thriller based on Stieg Larsson's novel about a male journalist and a young female hacker. In the opening of the movie, Mikael Blomkvist, a middle-aged publisher for the magazine Millennium, loses a libel case brought by corrupt Swedish industrialist Hans-Erik Wennerström. Nevertheless, he is hired by Henrik Vanger in order to solve a cold case, the disappearance of Vanger's niece

The first feature of The Millennium Trilogy, adapted from Stieg Larsson's novel of the same name, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is an ingeniously crafted mystery that expertly manages to retain its enigmatic atmosphere, tense feel & disturbing themes from start to finish by presenting its dark story in an unflinching manner and is as merciless as the subject it deals with.

It tells the story of an infamous journalist who teams up with a young, tattooed & wildly eccentric computer hacker to investigate the case of a woman who inexplicably went missing 40 years ago without any trace. But the further they advance with the case, the more they put their lives on risk as the family that employed them…

"He wasn't a victim. He was an evil motherfucker who hated women." ~ Lisbeth

If I had seen this before the 2011 David Fincher remake, I'd probably rate it higher. Noomi Rapace's portrayal of Lisbeth Salandar is a cut above Rooney Mara's. She's darker, crazier, sexier and altogether more the star of this than Mara was in her version. I felt Michael Nyqvist as journalist Mikael Blomkvist was more vulnerable and therefore a bit more believable than Daniel Craig in the part, too. Also, I may be wrong, but it seems this story was a bit fuller than the later production, and certainly the ending gives us a lot more interest in seeing the two follow-up films that are part of the "Millennium Trilogy." Kudos to director Niels Arden Oplev for his BAFTA win (Best Film not in the English Language). Well deserved.

The first installment of the internationally well-received Millennium Trilogy goes by the rules of classic mystery thrillers, but has enough substance and entertainment value to guarantee a suspenseful ride with aggressive material, assaulting imagery and grisly content to attract the attention of foreign masses. Some pacing problems can be found, as the film rushes things and underdevelops certain characters and situations, while excluding others that could only be found in Stieg Larsson's original novel. It shows that it was an adaptation originally planned as a six-episode miniseries, but decided to run theatrically trying to cover "the most important stuff". Nevertheless, the director was lucky enough to handle solid material. Released next to El Secreto de sus Ojos, it was not…

Viewing this swedish version of the source material presents me with a conundrum. I don't think I have ever seen two outstanding adaptations (or an original and remake) be released so close together and both be outstanding films. Personally, I thought REC/Quarantine were both outstanding, but that was more of an american virtually shot-for-shot/why did they even bother? remake type of take. Others would point towards the dual brilliance of the likes of Infernal Affairs/The Departed, the Insomnia films, etc. Picking between the two Dragon Tattoo adaptations is a bit like picking your favourite version of The Office, it's almost impossible. This might in fact become the first franchise ever where I own two versions of essentially the same product.…

Although this is technically a rewatch, this is actually a viewing of the extended version of this film that is basically the mini-series version stuck together in feature length.

As someone who found the original 150 or so minute version to be entertaining but extremely and frustratingly flawed, I wanted to see if the extended version ironed out some of the flaws that I experienced when I watched that version back in 2011. I am planning on watching the final two segments in their extended versions in the next couple of weeks or so, too, although I'm not sure if I can be arsed watching David Fincher's remake of this - despite being a Fincher fan.…

Huh. Noomi Rapace pronounces her name like "sue-me" -- not like "tow-me". I was way off, but she's still awesome as shit.

How I ever could've preferred Rooney Mara to Noomi is beyond me. It may be that Rooney Mara is more conventionally attractive upon first glance, but she's no where near as amazing. And in the long run not nearly as attractive.

The highest-grossing European production in 2009, this intense Swedish thriller is both an interesting investigation drama and a terrifying sexual abuse story - and Naoomi Rapace's magnetic performance makes it certainly worth seeing.

Cold, grubby, gripping crime story. Lisbeth is a real enigma and the movie only shows you just enough to be interested in the character. A lot of European dramas seem to treat the audience as though they are intelligent and capable of filling in the gaps without having everything laid out and overexplained. Hollywood struggles with this concept.

A disgraced journalist is hired by an aging millionaire to figure out the mystery surrounding his niece's death. What he finds though is a series of ritualistic murders and that the murderer might be far closer than he thinks. enter a mysterious young woman, Lisbeth, who helps him with her very special set of skills.

A wonderfully riveting neo-noir which benefits from very solid source material, able direction and great acting. Rapace is especially compelling as the brooding Lisbeth.